SAY IT AIN'T JOE

(Washington Prowler) - Three Republican state party chairmen have confirmed that within the last 36 hours they received calls from senior McCain presidential campaign advisers asking for their feedback on a McCain-Sen. Joseph Lieberman Republican ticket.

"It wasn't hypothetical. They wanted to know what our state's conservative base would do, how our convention delegation would react and if our state party bylaws would make it difficult to put a non-Republican on the ballot," says one state party chairman from a Southern state that has voted Republican in recent national elections. "I jokingly asked if this meant they were thinking about Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee for the ticket, but it was obvious where they were going. It was Lieberman."

McCain has sought the counsel of several prominent conservatives, and has pointed to a recent article on National Review Online that he believes indicates that many conservatives would not bolt from their support for him should he put a liberal Democrat on the bottom of the ticket.

But not everyone is on board with the plan: Senator Sam Brownback, who is considered one of McCain's strongest backers, and who has probably done more than most to solidify conservative, religious support for McCain, is said by campaign insiders to have opposed the Lieberman gambit.